3 Things We’re Looking Forward to This Summer

Summer is just starting to heat up around the Research Jam office. Besides our own personal summer endeavors like gardening, family vacations, and basking in the sunshine, there are three big things to look forward to in our work this summer.

1. NEW PROJECTS WITH OLD FRIENDS

We’re embarking on a few exciting new projects with repeat clients. It’s nice to continue to build on the relationships we’ve begun in previous work and encouraging to know that clients are eager to work with us again. We have a few veteran Research Jam clients who continue to bring interesting ideas our way. We’re excited to continue working with Dr. Tamara Hannon and her team as well as Dr. Benjamin Whittam and his team on new projects beginning this summer.

2. NEW TOPICS TO LEARN ABOUT

With some of our new projects, we’ve been introduced to health conditions most of us knew little about like hypospadias, refractory voiding dysfunction, and spina bifida. The opportunity to continually learn about new health conditions and the patient experience surrounding them is a favorite part of working at Research Jam. We’ve explored everything from type 1 diabetes to congenital adrenal hyperplasia to opiate addiction and we’re looking forward to adding some new topics to our mental encyclopedias this summer.

3. NEW METHODS

We’ve started using some cool research methods we haven’t used before at Research Jam including self-reporting journals, a board game, and a voicemail line.

Self-reporting journals enable us to gather data from individuals across a larger geographic area without having to gather them all in one location. This will be especially helpful for rare conditions where patients are spread out across the country. We’re currently developing journals to explore various topics including the fatherhood experience, long-term outcomes of hypospadias repair, and what it’s like for families to prepare for emergency department visits for their children with cancer.

Frequent readers of this blog may remember that we used a board game for a jam about biliary atresia. We have since repeated this method for another project, successfully gathering candid stories about the patient experience related to opioid addiction. The board game is definitely going to be a frequently utilized tool in our toolbox so keep an eye out for more on this method in the future.

Another method we’re very excited about is a voicemail line that will allow callers to anonymously leave a response to a recorded prompt. This method will allow us to gather short stories from individuals from nearly any location in an easy and discreet manner. Our hope is that this will encourage more candid sharing around sensitive topics or for those with stronger privacy concerns that might discourage them from attending a jam in person.

Check back with the blog to see how things progress with our work this summer and don’t forget to sign up for our email newsletter!